Wednesday, August 21, 2013

My little "gymnasticker"

When I was little, I wanted to be a gymnast more than anything in the whole world. I ate, drank, and slept gymnastics--when I wasn't actually doing gymnastics. When the television would show a gymnastics meet, I taped it on my VHS tape and watched it over and over until I had memorized every move that I could do most of the routines myself (minus the big-ticket stuff). I was obsessed. I cartwheeled or back-flipped everywhere I needed to go, even on concrete (the mother in me cringes when I remember that).

I still love to watch gymnastics on television. While I was watching a meet a couple years ago, Portia sidled up to me and watched over my shoulder. That's when she proudly proclaimed (as a 3-year-old) that she wanted to be a "gymnasticker". I put her in gymnastics for a year and then we moved, and fast-forward a couple years, I signed her back up for gymnastics lessons at Gymcats at Thanksgiving Point when she was five.

She and her friend Ashley have taken lessons together since March, and they had a "recital" this Saturday to show us (the parents) the progress our kids are making. After all, they have elaborate dance recitals for dance--why not have a gymnastics recital?

Uh oh, looks like Portia's arms may be double-jointed as mine are

Portia practiced her floor routine at home. She was cosi-cosi (our family's newly adopted Italian term meaning so-so) on bars, but bars was never my strongest event when I was a kid. She was completely clueless on her beam routine, but boy did she finish her routine with gusto (she did a round-off dismount and landed on her bum with all the force she mustered)! And her vault looked pretty strong as well. But by far, she looked comfortable out there tumbling on the floor. They even got medals at the end. Portia's convinced she got first place, and every one else fell somewhere behind her.

Lately, I've been giving Portia private gymnastics tutoring at home. She's loving it. She's been cartwheeling all over the place, even up the stairs. I didn't think it was possible either, until I saw it. And I'm loving this too!